Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Last night I celebrated Rosh Hashanah with friends and family. Dearest friend, lovely supporter and safe person S. was the cook and hostess [with the total mostess] who created a Sephardic Rosh Hashanah.

Sephardic tradition on Rosh Hashanah is to have a seder of sorts [not unlike Passover] eating symbolic foods. Since Rosh is all about the head of the year, and harvest and bounty and the circle of life and forgiveness of past wrong doings over the year, we ate lots of yummy things relating to fertility and dates and beans.

Add to that in Sephardic tradition they serve green and gold foods [which I blurted out mid-seder were the colors of color war at my summer camp], it was quite a bounty.

At the table too was this allergic girl, her slightly less but still allergic mother, a vegetarian who is gluten-intolerant and dear friend C. who eats no veggies and fruit [by preference].

A lot for a hostess to juggle, but S. is up to the task. She introduced each dish with a list of its ingredients as a special nod to everyone’s needs so we all knew exactly what was safe for us and what was not.

Yay and thank you S.!

Below are some pictures of our Rosh seder. Did any of you have a Rosh dinner last night? How was it?

***

Symbolic foods for Rosh:

The special round challah for this time of year:

Sides:

Lamb with black bean sauce:

My filled dinner plate:

Chocolate babka:

Honey cake with walnuts:

The now famous [if you heard Martha Stewart radio last week I mentioned these] homemade quince paste:

Wow... What an amazing dinner! Your hostess did an astounding job of juggling a wide array of food needs while ensuring you could have traditional meal to celebrate the day! As the mom of a family with a variety of allergies (gluten, dairy, soy), I also know that you can lay out a wonderful meal and never touch a prohibited ingredient, while ensuring the palate is suitably entertained... After all, allergies should not equal deprivation.

Sloane Miller, MFA, MSW, LMSW

I have had food allergies my entire life (I'm anaphylactic to all tree nuts and salmon, and OAS to many fruits and vegetables) and live a full life; I am committed to helping other people with food allergies do the same.

My work has appeared in national and international media, including: ABCNews; Allergic Living; CNN; Huffington Post; New York Magazine; NY1; The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

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The content on this blog is based on my personal experiences and intended solely for entertainment purposes only. I am not a medical professional and the content on this blog is not to be considered medical advice.